11 December 2009 09:39

Last weekend Stoke manager Tony Pulis and striker James Beattie are believed to have fallen out over a Christmas party and Redknapp insisted that if he was asked for permission for his players to celebrate he would say no.

'They are more trouble than they're worth,' said Redknapp. 'My advice to the players if they want a party is don't have one.

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'It's a long season and they can have a party at the end of it but I don't see why we should be having parties now.'

Redknapp is more interested in seeing Jermain Defoe, the Premier League's leading scorer, maintain his form at home against Wolves on Saturday and guarantee his place at the World Cup finals.

The Tottenham striker returns for the first time to the scene of his greatest triumph, a five-goal haul in the 9-1 thrashing of Wigan, and has been warned that he cannot afford to drop his standards if he wants to be on the plane to South Africa.

Michael Owen's hat-trick, for Manchester United in Germany in midweek, saw the former Liverpool striker's name mentioned again as a candidate for Fabio Capello's World Cup squad.

'I think Jermain has got to keep scoring because he knows there is competition for places,' said Redknapp. 'He wants to go to the World Cup and they have all got to be on their toes. It is a great motivation for all the English players. They have got to keep playing well.'

One player unlikely to feature is David Bentley, after Redknapp admitted he had a disagreement with the winger but denied that he had threatened to sell him in January. It came during half-time of a private friendly against non-league Grays Athletic.

'I wasn't happy with his performance in the first half of a game and that was it,' added Redknapp. 'There was no blazing row. I just felt he could have done better than he was doing.'

Luka Modric also featured in that game after recovering from a fractured bone in his leg, and the Croatian is set to begin on the bench against Wolves.